British police arrest children for playing

In an earlier post I blogged about the rise of the police state under Tony Blair and the report that Peter Hitchens did for UK television, entitled Stealing Liberty. One of the issues Hitchens tackled was the way the police now grab the DNA of anyone they can and hold this on file whether or not the individual has been found guilty of any crime. The British government is working assiduously to build up a DNA bank of every citizen. Vicious stuff.

Now some young children were rounded up by the ever vigilant British for the horrendous offense of playing in a tree. These three potential terrorists were Sam Cannon, Amy Higgins and Katy Smith, all 12 years old. The children admit they climbed into the tree and broke some branches but they were not engaged in vandalism nor were the trying to kill the tree. They were playing. But all activity in Blair's England is suspect even chilren playing.

The children were all arrested and taken to the police station. They were locked in cells and hd their shoes confiscated. They were fingerprinted and each one was added to Big Brother's DNA data base involuntarily. While no charges were filed their DNA was -- filed that is. They are not a permanent part of the state's new method for keeping track of potential terrorists -- or what was once known as citizens. And the record of this incident itself will be kept on file for another five years then erased -- not so for the DNA.

Jacquelin Higgins, the mother of one of the girls, says her daughter was terrified and has refused to sleep alone in her bed for the last week. 'Amy was scared bucketloads to be locked up in a cell knowing murderers and rapists have been sat in the same cells. The police action was completely unbalanced. These were children playing in a tree." The father of Sam says the boys eyes were swollen and red when he was released as a result of his crying in fear.

The police, as is typical, denied they did anything wrong. He claims the children "stripped every branch" from the tree --- something that appears to be totally false. But in a police state the police are not required to be truthful. The police apologist said they deal "robustly with anti-social behaviour." But Theodore Dalrymple, the conseratve essayists, has but this myth to rest. We mentioned him last month in connection to the widow police harassed because they said the sign on her gate was not politically correct. Dalrymple has claimed that the police mentality in the UK today is one that ignores the crimes of the criminal class while coming down extra hard on people who are basically examples of middle-class virtues.

The widow and her harmless sign is one example. A local elected official confirmed Dalrymple's thesis when she complained that the police ignored vandals and "yobs" who harassed people. In this case three middle-class children, none who had been in any trouble before, were subjected to fingerprinting, DNA sampling and incarceration for playing in a tree. Dalrymple doesn't say the police don't "robustly" deal with issues he just says they deal robustly with people who are no threat to society while turning their backs on people who are such threats. So far this is just another example that proves he is correct.

The unfortunate thing for England is that Blair swears he will serve at least another year in office. It will take his own MPs getting some background to change that travesty. Many Western concepts of limited government were born in England. Unfortunately it appears they are dying there as well. If the British don't abolish the keeping of DNA and fingerprints of innocent people it will be a very ominous sign. It already is one considering they are collecting the data in the first place.

Remember, remember,
the fifth of November,
the Gunpowder Treason and plot,
I know of no reason,
why the Gunpowder Treason,
should ever be forgot.